Wednesday, September 16, 2009

I really like facebook for a lot of reasons. One reason was unexpected but I think it is a good benefit. Since I am the past or present Pastor of many of my young friends on facebook, I have noticed that once they accepted me as their "friend", suddenly their profile pictures and content became much more "Christian" than before. I think knowing that Pastor is looking on provides an accountability factor that is helpful to these young ones who have not yet developed an "inner-governor" to keep them from going "buck wild" on the internet. Sad to say though, I have had to block some of my young friends from my site due to their unseemly behavior on line. I am thankful for the most of them who are just wonderful clean hearted followers of the Lord Jesus. Just remember this, "there is an all seeing eye watching you" and it is not Pastor Thomason, it is the Lord God with whom we all must give account. :-)

Monday, September 14, 2009

I see it over and over again in the earthly ministry of Jesus. Whenever He was confronted with overwhelming needs of people where emotions were running strong and the cries of desperation reached His ears, He would often say, "Only Believe" and "Be not afraid, but believe" and "nothing is impossible to him that believeth" and "do you believe that I am able to do this?"

To those of us who have been following the Lord for many years, these remarks may seem an oversimplification and even misleading. After all, life is just more complicated than that, right? Wrong! If Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory and Creator of all things says that all we must do to receive the impossible is "Believe", then that is all! Our religious dumping of other conditions and rules into the equation only render a paralyzing blow to our "believer" and wrecks any opportunity we might have to accomplish the impossible.

Mark 11:24 (And I do not apologize for using these words of Jesus) Jesus says to His disciples,"What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them."

1. Desire things. Implies a certain amount of intensity.

2. Pray for the things you desire.Go ahead, it is o'k to ask for what you want.

3. Believe that you receive them. There it is: BELIEVE.

4. Have what you desired and asked for in prayer believing. Go ahead, have it!

This is what Jesus said to us. It is His unchanging, unfailing Word. He watches over His Word to perform it. So what He said is going to happen. We just simply have to believe Him.

Jesus talked like this when he was at the tomb of Lazarus. He was faced with the emotion of Mary & Martha who were a bit tiffed at His tardiness in coming to the aid of their brother. Jesus even wept at the situation, being deeply touched by their grief. He called upon them to believe in Him as the Resurrection and the Life. Only believe. The impossible was about to happen, and all they had to do was BELIEVE. Jesus told them to remove the stone from in front of the tomb, and then He called Lazarus from the regions of the departed back into his body and out of the tomb! Our lesson? Believe on Jesus to receive the impossible. Do what He tells us to do. And let Him do the remainder, more difficult task, i.e. raising the dead, etc.

"Only believe, only believe, all things are possible, only believe."

"Lord, I believe, Lord I believe, all things are possible, Lord I believe."

Friday, September 11, 2009

I returned from ten days in the Central American country of Honduras a week ago and have been musing over the whole experience. I was there with a team from Dr. James Maloney's Acts Group. Team members came from Canada, Idaho, Kansas, Indiana, Florida and Texas. They were great people who love God, love the Word, and love to minister by the Holy Spirit. We joined the ministry of Jim & Linda Tjelmeland in Comayagua and soon spread out through the area, preaching, teaching, prophesying, praying for the sick, etc. The whole event culminated in a 2 night Prophetic Conference held at a local gymnasium in downtown Comayagua. Dr. Maloney delivered a powerful prophetic message to the Church in Honduras. Many received healings and special blessings from the Lord in all of the meetings conducted by members of the team. Our dear friend Luis Sorto spent the week guiding a team and translating for us each day.

Dr. Maloney and I were able to meet the Mayor of Comayagua with the help of Missionary Jim Faber. Our conversation centered around recent political developments in Honduras and we assured him that there are millions of Christians in the U.S. praying for his country.

The people of Honduras are very united in prayer and fasting for their nation and we believe God is listening and responding to make "all things work together for the good" because these people really love the Lord. The eyes of the world are upon these people and God will be glorified! It was truly a great opportunity for us to be there in such a super charged spiritual climate.